Results 39,001-39,020 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Legal Cases (11 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The courts found in one case that they were misread so far.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Legal Cases (11 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I do not think that has been a finding in all cases. Maybe it has been a finding in a number of cases. I do not know about the particular cases to which Deputy Tóibín is referring to.

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Legal Cases (11 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: In most of the settlements there has been no admission of liability. I do not think we should be getting into this on the floor of the House, quite frankly.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have just checked. First, the Deputy has misquoted me. Second, he has misrepresented me. I have never sought to blame anyone for the housing crisis or for homelessness, not the people who experience it nor the people who try to help them, whether this is the Government, the local authorities, NGOs or anyone else. The Deputy has misquoted and misrepresented me and-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: -----this is bad politics as far as I am concerned, but let us move on.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I did not actually.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I did not.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Let us move on to the issue at hand. We are experiencing a very deep housing crisis in this State and we have done so now for quite some time. It affects lots of people in lots of different ways, whether it is people who are struggling to pay the rent, people who cannot find their first home to buy or people who have been living at home too long. I know this and I get it. I deal with this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Those comments were made in response to an individual case given by another Deputy. There are many individual cases and everyone has their story and everyone's story is different. That is the truth of it. It is a simple fact that there are people on the housing list who have refused offers of accommodation and, in some cases, multiple offers of accommodation. Often, this is for good reasons.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: One of the reasons we have choice-based letting now is that people will have more choice regarding the offers they get. This has been a big success and something that was introduced by the last Government.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: It is a huge leap to say that stating the fact that people refuse offers of accommodation is somehow blaming them for-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: Ah stop.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: If it would help, and help to contain the Deputy and his outburst, I am happy to rephrase the term "plenty" to "some".

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. I am happy to confirm my and the Government's support for an EU nature law. We have seen an extraordinary loss of biodiversity in Ireland, Europe and around the world in the past few decades. For me, it was brought into sharp focus by one of the David Attenborough documentaries I watched where he pointed out that 97% of all animal life on earth by weight is us and the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I have not actually seen that correspondence yet. I will have to see it and I will then confer with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and other Government colleagues. I will ensure that I do see it and that we will respond to it as soon as possible. I absolutely agree that social dialogue is crucial. Everybody wants climate action and actions to be taken which help to reverse the decline in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I am not familiar with the particular service or programme but from what the Deputy has told me, it seems to be very successful and it seems to be a very good one. I am told there is another transition pilot programme for school leavers which involves 20 schools in Dublin and elsewhere looking after children over two years. I will certainly take on board what the Deputy has said today. I...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy has my assurance that I will make some inquiries about it and speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the other relevant Ministers. As we know, often when something is funded from the Dormant Accounts Fund, it is only funded for a short period of time and then it can get picked up and funded and on a more sustainable basis by another body. As I am not fully across...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: My diary is published. It was a real pleasure to have a chance to visit west Cork again. It is surely one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I was really glad to meet people in different parts of it and talk to them on this occasion. I got to visit Bandon, Clonakilty, Timoleague and also Courtmacsherry. While I did not meet the people the Deputy mentioned, I met a number of...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I will be happy to come back to the Deputy in detail on the specific projects he raises. I know from my visit to west Cork in the past couple of days there has been huge investment in the area. The Deputy knows in the town of Bandon the amount of work that has been done to install flood relief. We all remember the floods in Bandon. Under the previous Government and this one, millions of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (12 Jul 2023)

Leo Varadkar: I think I answered that comprehensively yesterday. The allocation for the project is €1.433 billion. That allocation was made in 2018 and has not been increased since. It will cost more than that, as I said in the Dáil yesterday. We cannot say how much more it will cost at this stage because we are disputing the multiple claims for more money made by the contractor. It is...